Why the 4-day workweek is still controversial

The sharpest opinions on the debate from around the web

A calendar.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock)

The United Kingdom on Monday launched the world's largest pilot of a four-day workweek, in which over 3,300 workers from 70 companies will work "80 percent of their hours for 100 percent of their pay," provided, of course, "they commit to maintaining 100 percent productivity," The Washington Post explains. Even in the U.S., the push for a shorter workweek is nothing new, having been an office pipe dream for decades — in 1956, in fact, then-Vice President Richard Nixon mused that such an adjustment would come in the "not too distant future." Here's a quick look at the state of the debate on the matter:

Productivity is unchanged

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.